Folger Shakespeare Library Review: Is the Renovated Exhibition Worth a Visit?

I originally visited the Folger Shakespeare Library in May 2019, when it had a tiny area for visitors in the DC area.

Honestly, it was so small that a friend who lived there told me it’d take only 5 minutes. But being the longtime Tudor history and Shakespeare enthusiast I am, I was determined to make those moments count, and I did.

It’s one of my fond memories from that trip because I was the only tourist there, so I monopolized the employee I spoke to and nerded out about this incredible library.

Having visited again in June 2026, after their massive 2024 overhaul of the historic library, which cost $80.5 million, I can honestly say that, based on the tour I took of the new building, it is well worth adding to your Washington, D.C., itinerary, especially if you’re a history buff or a literary fan (and I’m saying that as someone who’s been to Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s hometown).

I’ll share what I saw firsthand with a friend as we walked through their new exhibition, give you a brief insight into the library’s history, and describe what it was like to see a performance there, so you can decide if it’s worth the detour.

Quick Facts about the Folger Shakespeare Library

What is the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC?

The Folger Shakespeare Library is the world’s largest Shakespeare collection.

You might have thought that was back in jolly old England, but it is not, because of the efforts of industrialist Henry Clay Folger and his wife, Emily Jordan Folger.

After spending decades assembling the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare materials, they sought a home for it and landed on a spot across from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

The library was opened on April 23, 1932, which is thought to be Shakespeare’s birthday. This is a date that was debated even during the Stratford Town Walk tour I took in England.

Since then, it has continued to build its impressive collection and now houses a world-renowned collection of books, manuscripts, and prints from the 1500s to the early 1700s.

The Folger is an internationally recognized research library offering advanced scholarly programs in the humanities.

When I visited in 2019, I was told the Reading Room was open only to scholars with two letters of recommendation. Anyone over 18 can now register for a reader’s card to use the collection. Even we non-academics can tour the library during the final tour of the day (starting at 4:30 pm) and on weekends.

In addition to their scholarly works, they are innovators in the preservation of rare materials, national leaders in the teaching of Shakespeare in grades K-12, and award-winning producers of cultural and arts programs.

Visitors to the Folger today can view artifacts and check out the interactive exhibitions, which are the main enhancements I noticed over my 2019 visit, thanks to the four-year renovation.

What to Do at the Folger Shakespeare Library

You’ll enter the Folger Shakespeare Library on the lower level, where you’ll pass by a lovely garden filled with both native plants and plants mentioned by Shakespeare.

Here you’ll also notice inscriptions dotted around; they’re from a Folger-commissioned poem by US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Rita Dove.

To the right of the entrance, you’ll notice a heritage magnolia tree that was planted at the time of the Folger’s 1932 opening.

The whole area is intentionally created to be welcoming, but also to enshrine you in the world of the Bard before you even make it to the door.

Who Was Shakespeare? What is He to You?

The first part of the exhibition focuses on people inspired by the playwright.

The most prominent of which is Ira Aldridge.

As one of the most celebrated Shakespearean actors of the 19th century, this New Yorker achieved his greatest fame in Europe, where he found professional opportunities that did not exist for black actors in the United States at the time.

His extensive repertoire included Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Othello, where he became the first black actor to portray Othello on the London stage in 1833.

He used his platform on stage to speak out against slavery and advocate for racial equality.

In this exhibit, you’ll learn a bit about him from letters, artwork, playbills, and more.

There’s also a section on copies of Shakespeare that settler-colonists brought with them, the growth of the Bard’s name recognition, famous fans such as Orson Welles, and whether or not Shakespeare ‘was’ Shakespeare.

The First Folios

During my visit to Shakespeare’s Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, I was thrilled to see the First Folio.

All of this makes it truly an incredible text, as without it, the name and works of the Bard would not likely be as prominent as they are today.

And while I was thrilled to see one of them during my visit to England, I was astounded by a wall of them at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

What I loved about this exhibit was that a glow alights beneath them, grouping them by categories such as most expensive, earliest bindings, owned by women, and more. It helped give a lot of insight into their individual 400-year histories.

The Printing Press

After my visit to the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, Belgium, a printing museum focused on the work of the 16th-century printers Christophe Plantin and Jan Moretus, I’ve had a substantial amount of respect for how much work it took to run a printing press.

Which is why I thought it was great to pair the First Folio’s next to the printing press section that explores this tedious craft.

Here, they have an interactive element where you can try your hand at not accidentally spelling backward (harder than you think when you have to do everything in reverse).

You can also flip through a copy of a First Folio, see actual lead type (the individual letters set into a press bed), and engravings.

His Plays

In a section dedicated to Shakespeare’s plays, you learn even more about how these performances touched others, such as American actress Charlotte Cushman.

Known for defying 19th-century gender norms on and off the stage, she was adored by audiences in Shakespeare, especially as Romeo. One critic argued that it was impossible to tell that Cushman’s Romeo was played by a woman.

In her private life, Cushman wore masculine clothing and engaged in multiple romantic relationships with women. Her decade-long relationship with Matilda Hays was publicly acknowledged and was even referred to as a “female marriage.”

Here you’ll also see daggers from certain performances, figurines, and an interactive section named ‘Shake Up Your Shakespeare,’ where you and a friend can create a dialogue of Shakespeare’s ‘Bless, Burn, or Bonus’ lines.

Rare Book and Manuscript Exhibition Hall

The Rare Book and Manuscript Exhibition Hall currently hosts a few sections, including Shakespeare and the American Story; one dedicated to their current stage performances; and sections on the building’s history, conservation, editing, and transcription.

Conservation Efforts

The section that interested me most was conservation, especially since I’d just visited my cousin at the Met in New York City. While he’s not a conservationist (he makes mounts for artifacts), the job’s uniqueness is still intriguing.

“What’s cool about conservation work is the opportunity to uncover the unknown. Nobody would ever hear me say, ‘Oh I’ve done this 100 times. Every item is a new challenge and so unique that you have to look at it very carefully. When I do, I ask, ‘Why did a bookbinder do it this way 400 years ago?

What were they thinking? Was it because techniques were different or did they have only a few materials?’ Conservation is not just a craft. You have to understand chemistry and history. You need to understand how a book is built in order to repair it. We are not changing a book. We want to make sure the historical integrity is kept. If I were to change it, you would never be able to see it the way it was.”

• Renate Mesmer, Head of Conservation and Preservation at the Folger

This tedious work is why we have anything to look at at all, in any museum or library.

Emily Folger, Co-Founder

Decades of collaboration between Henry and Emily Folger produced what has become the world’s largest Shakespeare collection.

While you may have thought this was merely Henry’s dream, Emily, in her own right, was also a fan of the Bard, having earned a master’s degree from Vassar College in 1896.

Her thesis, “The True Text of Shakespeare,” explores the question: in the absence of Shakespeare’s original manuscripts, what are his true texts?

Using the wealth they gained from Henry’s position as an executive at Standard Oil, the couple realized their dream of establishing a scholarly library where their books would be read and studied.

Shakespeare and the American Story

As I mentioned earlier, the first European colonizers brought Shakespeare’s words and stories with them, but 250 years in, we’re still processing the Bard in our own ways, as Porter and Clarke did.

Life partners and co-editors, Charlotte Endymion Porter (1857-1942) and Helen A. Clarke (1860-1926), shaped the field of Shakespeare and literary studies in the United States by creating the first American Edition of Shakespeare, edited by women, in 1903.

At a time when most Shakespeare editors simply “improved” others’ latest work, they created a new edition based directly on the First Folio, bringing readers closer to Shakespeare’s original words.

Boydell Shakespeare Gallery

One of the highlights of visiting the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is the canvases they’ve collected depicting the Bard’s famous plays.

These fourteen canvases by seven different artists, seen together for the first time since 1805, constitute the largest surviving portion of the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery.

The London picture gallery was founded in 1789 and remained operational until 1805, when its collection was auctioned off.

At that time, it included 173 paintings, nearly half of which were life-size, created by 35 different artists. Today, only about a third of these works are known to survive.

Each painting in the gallery depicted scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. However, the collection as a whole told a story about Shakespeare himself—a larger-than-life symbol of British imperialism and economic power.

Coffee at the Quill & Crumb

After touring the exhibition, head upstairs to the Great Hall, but first admire the floating paper sculpture by Anke Neumann.

It’s made with rag paper, which was also used in the First Folio of Shakespeare and many 16th- and 17th-century books in the Folger collection; however, it was not made with the same methods.

Nonetheless, it’s a captivating piece that leads you up into the Great Hall, which is the section I originally toured back in 2019.

It’s meant to evoke the gallery of a 16th-century house with its soaring plaster strapwork ceiling and oak-paneled walls, but it also reminds me of the Great Hall of Hampton Court Palace, though at a smaller scale.

The terracotta floor features masks of Comedy and Tragedy, as well as the titles of Shakespeare’s plays.

Grab lunch, baked goods, grab-and-go options, and more from the Quill & Crumb while you take it all in. I highly recommend Ophelia’s Bloom (their special), it contains espresso, lavender and elderflower syrup, and pistachio milk.

You can also peek in on the Reading Room from here if you didn’t snag a late tour. Make sure to spot the bust of Shakespeare, a recreation of the one above his grave in Stratford-upon-Avon.

While it’s smaller than some of the libraries I’ve visited, such as the Austrian National Library, I adore the Reading Room because it’s a working library rather than merely an aesthetic one.

See a Performance at the Elizabethan Theatre

Next door to the Great Hall is the Elizabethan Theatre, where my friend and I were lucky enough to be invited to the inaugural performance of ‘How Shakespeare Saved My Life’ by Jacob Ming-Trent.

Since seeing a performance at the Globe Theater during my 2nd visit to London, I’ve had a fond spot for theater. Its incredibleness led me to return and add it as a must on my 2-day London itinerary.

So I was hyped to be invited to a performance, especially after missing the opportunity in 2019.

In ‘How Shakespeare Saved My Life’, Ming-Trent attempts to overcome his past. Despite his natural talent for poetry, he was dismissed, setting him on a quest for a sense of belonging.

Calling on the Bard, rappers, preachers, and poets to throw him a lifeline, he recalls his life in this one-man show.

This performance at the Folger has since concluded, but you can check out upcoming performances on their website. Folger Theatre tickets range from $20–$79.

Even if you don’t happen to visit during a performance, do check out the Theater, which boasts gorgeous three-tiered wooden balconies, carved oak columns, and a half-timbered facade that evokes the courtyard of an English Renaissance inn.

Folger Shakespeare Library vs the Library of Congress

Pros and Cons of Visiting the Folger Shakespeare Library

Pros

• Free admission (suggested $15 donation)
• World’s largest Shakespeare collection, including multiple First Folios
• Newly renovated (2024) with interactive exhibits
• Quieter, less crowded alternative to the National Mall
• Elizabethan Theatre performances on-site
• Quill & Crumb cafe for food and drinks
• Centrally located, across from the Library of Congress

Cons

• No on-site parking; limited street parking nearby
• Visit takes only 1–2 hours, so it may feel brief for some travelers, especially in comparison to the large Smithsonian buildings
• Less interactive/hands-on for young kids compared to other DC attractions
• Reservations recommended (not guaranteed walk-in) during peak summer season
• Niche appeal, less rewarding if you’re not interested in Shakespeare or literary history

Who Should Visit the Folger Shakespeare Library

Visit the Folger Shakespeare Library if:

• You love Shakespeare, theater, or literary history
• You want a quieter, less crowded alternative to the National Mall museums
• You’re already visiting the Library of Congress or Capitol Hill
• You appreciate rare books, conservation work, or manuscript history
• You want an affordable attraction to visit

Skip the Folger Shakespeare Library if:

• You have limited time in D.C. and want to prioritize the Smithsonian sites
• Shakespeare or Renaissance literature isn’t of interest
• You’re traveling with young kids who need highly interactive/hands-on museums or may not be familiar with the Bard

If you are looking for a majorly interactive experience, check out the International Spy Museum.

Final Verdict: My Folger Shakespeare Library Review

As a longtime Tudor history and Shakespeare enthusiast, I’m thrilled to see how the Folger Shakespeare Library has transformed since my prior visit.

The 2024 renovation turned what was once a niche, easy-to-miss stop into one of D.C.’s most rewarding hidden gems, especially for literary and history lovers who want a break from the more crowded Mall attractions.

Between the First Folio wall, the Elizabethan Theatre, and the interactive exhibits, it’s easily worth 1–2 hours of your D.C. itinerary.

I highly recommend getting the final tour of the day (starting at 4:30 pm) to explore the exhibits, grabbing some food at the Quill & Crumb, and then seeing a show at the theatre to complete the experience.

It is free to visit the Folger, and they welcome walk-in visitors; however, if you’re visiting during the peak summer season, reserve a pay-what-you-will timed-entry pass, with a suggested donation starting at $15.

And don’t forget to stop by the gift shop. I got myself a lovely tote bag there, which I was in desperate need of after the one I brought with me on this trip ripped, and an upcycled bookmark for my friend, made from the spine of a Sherlock Holmes novel.

FAQs

Related Washington, D.C. Travel Guides

• A Top Secret International Spy Museum Review
• Top 25 Things to Do in Washington, DC: The Best Mostly Free Attractions
• Folger Shakespeare Library Review: Is the Renovated Exhibition Worth a Visit?

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